Big little Elevate a great buy with a great badge to boot
The South African car market is a competitive place. It’s changing by the minute as prices skyrocket. And that’s left buyers with no option but to downgrade to cars they perhaps would not even have bothered with a year or two ago.
Of all the carmakers, Suzuki has read the market perfectly. Its range pretty well entirely sits under five-hundred grand, it’s diverse and interesting, entirely small to mid-size, thrifty and economical to run. Walk into a Suzuki dealership and you’re unlikely to suffer the anxiety and price apoplexy you will almost everywhere else.
Elevate catches Suzuki (and Toyota’s) drift
And it’s working. The little Japanese carmaker has rocketed from obscurity to establish itself as a frontrunner South Africa’s new car sales charts.
Toyota clearly picked up on the trend and a great proportion of Toyotas these days are basically re-badged Suzukis anyway. Now it seems a new trend is emerging out of this too. Take Honda for instance. It recently caused a rumpus when it trotted out the new million rand CR-V.
However, Honda quickly countered that with this all-new Elevate. Its not the first Honda in the Suzuki vein either. Also built in India, as are the biggest number of cars sold in SA these days, it joins bargain stablemates, the BR-V MPV and Amaze sedan alongside it’s made in Japan upper echelon, including Fit, Civic, HR-V and others.
Elevate brings smart US Honda styling
Like its rivals, the Honda R&D Asia developed and Honda India manufactured Elevate brings eye-catching US Honda inspired styling to the bottom end of the SUV scale. Add a ‘comprehensive list’ of standard features and a dependable Honda i-VTec powertrain. Our smart metallic orange sampler wades into the highly competitive South African budget SUV segment in Exclusive spec
It is striking. Dynamic, bold ‘Urban Freestyler’ styling delivers a broad 4.3 metre long, 1.7 m wide, and 1.6 tall stance and a class leading 458 litre trunk. That makes the Elevate’s proportions more generous than first sight may suggest. It’s the same size as the latest compatible Toyota Urban Cruiser, Suzuki Grand Vitara, and Hyundai Creta models.
Boxy styling with bold, square wheel arches and smooth creased lines hanker after Elevate’s larger US siblings. Bold grille automatic LED DRL head and foglamps punctuate the squared off chrome trimmed black grille. It opens up to a spacious minimalistic cabin delivers a solid and comfort that premium feel Honda SUVs are renowned for.
Contemporary fabrics, basic controls
Contemporary fabrics and soft-touch materials blend with the practical, perhaps less sophisticated controls that one expects at this bargain neck of the woods. Topping the bill, an intuitive all-new 8-inch CarPlay, Auto and Bluetooth rich infotainment system floats on the centre of the dash.
It operates as a touchscreen, but also benefits multifunction steering wheel commands. Happily the Elevate also retains those conventional buttons, sliders, and knobs so many other cars have ditched, so normal people can also quite logically operate all those functions.
This top end Elegance adds high-quality 6 speaker Honda audio, a 7-inch TFT multi-information display between its clear, analogue dials, and cordless device charging. Ours even had a power sunroof and eco-friendly leather to contribute to its edgy aura.
Elevate a great buy with a great badge
Add automatic air-conditioning, walk-away locking keyless smart entry, rear parking sensors and a multi-angle reverse parking camera. Safety is covered by side & side-curtain SRS airbags. They bring extra security to Elevate’s latest, stiffer Honda Compatibility Engineering chassis with APS braking and electronic stability control.
Packing an 89 kW 145 Nm 1.5-litre Honda DOHC i-VTec petrol engine turning the front wheels via a stepped CVT. Honda promises a quite believable 6.1 litres per 100 kilometre fuel consumption at 146 grams of carbon per kilometre. Our test figures below are neither fast nor slow, but it rides and drives well. Our bright Elegance sat on 17-inch polished face alloy wheels with generous Bridgestone rubber.
All in all, the Elevate Elegance is a mighty step in the right direction for Honda. It certainly deserves success. This big little Honda really is very well positioned and great buy. With a great badge on its nose. — Michele Lupini
Images & testing: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Honda Elevate Elegance
Engine: 89 kW 145 Nm 1.5-litre petrol I4
Drive: CVT AWD
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 4.87 sec
0-100 km/h: 10.56 sec
0-120 km/h: 14.56 sec
0-160 km/h: 28.84 sec
400m: 17.4 sec @ 132 km/h
80-120 km/h: 7.18 sec
120-160 km/h: 14.21 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 170 km/h
Fuel: 6.1 l/100 km
CO2: 146 g/km
Range: 660 km
Warranty/Service: 5y 200K/4y 60K km
LIST PRICE: R430K
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